the walls came tumbling down
by hollyhobbit101
Summary: Sam has seen this story before, he's seen the way it ends. Tag to 12x04, American Nightmare


**A/N: I should be sleeping right about now. Eh, who needs sleep anyway?**

* * *

The scene is all too damn familiar. Sam, pleading with a young psychic whilst they threaten their parents - no, their abusers - with a knife. He might laugh if there weren't lives on the line.

First, he and Dean had shown up as priests, just like last time. Then they had suspected some kind of vengeful spirit (or, at least, Sam had) and been wrong. Both male members of the family ended up dead (but that isn't Magda's fault, not this time). The only difference is that Magda is innocent; she didn't mean to kill those two people, she had played no part in the death of her father and brother. It's been 11 years, but Sam still remembers the broken, desperate look in Max Miller's eyes as he had insisted his father and uncle had to die, that his step-mother had to join them, before turning the gun on himself. He's determined the same won't happen to Magda. He's determined to save her.

* * *

"Magda, stop!" He's begging now because he can't let history repeat itself, not again, he won't allow it. "Nobody else has to die! Please!"

A tense moment passes and for a split second Sam thinks she's gone too far, that she won't be able to stop herself from plunging that knife into her mother's heart and watching as she bleeds out on the floor like her brother. But then she shudders a breath and the knife clatters to the floor as she collapses with a sob into Sam's chest and he holds her tight even though she's making his shirt wet because he knows that's what she needs right now.

Dean catches up with them 30 minutes later and the brothers exchange a look of understanding as the elder takes in the scene before him. It's obvious his brother wants to know exactly what happened in the time they were separated, but Sam doesn't want to tell him yet, not in front of Magda. She doesn't need that kind of torture.

* * *

They let the police handle this one. There's no other way to go about it really, not when there's human bodies and an insane killer and a traumatised girl involved. They're asked the usual questions, but mostly it's all cleared up once the FBI badges are shown; no one questions federal investigators. Magda's sitting in the back of the ambulance with Beth, chatting quietly, and there's a new spark of life in her eyes. It's small, but it's there and Sam smiles when he sees it because, despite the past, despite everything that's happened, he knows he did the right thing and he's relieved she did too.

Dean is called away by Beth when they go over to see Magda, and then the two of them are alone. He carefully sits next to her and tries comforting her. In the back of his mind he wonders if the outcome would have been different if he'd said the same to Max, but he knows deep down that Max was too far gone and Sam wouldn't have been able to save him no matter what he said. The hope for a future beyond brutal whippings and locked cellars brings a smile to Magda's face and Sam takes comfort in that, and the pressure of her head on his shoulder as she relaxes for what must be the first time in years. He gives her a wave when they leave and she returns the gesture before getting into Beth's car and heading off to the coach for California.

* * *

Sam is happy as they drive back to the Bunker. Yes, people died, but an innocent girl was saved from a fate Sam wouldn't wish upon anybody. In a way, he feels this has in some way made up for his previous failure with Max, but mostly he's just grateful that they both made the right choices and Magda didn't end up dead, or worse.

He only finds out later on the news that Magda Peterson was found dead in a roadside bathroom on the way to Cali, two bullets in her brain.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading everybody! I was so proud of Sam in this ep, he did so good! Leave a review telling me what you think, or any criticisms, if you want. Thanks again! Bye!**


End file.
